The Fortnite World Cup will have a $3 million solo prize – the biggest in esports history

Epic took its first step into Fortnite esports last year with an absolutely absurd amount of money, and the company has similar plans for the Fortnite World Cup. The finals, set to take place in New York City in July, will offer a prize pool of $30 million, including $3 million for the top solo player – which appears to be the biggest individual prize in esports history.

Online Open qualifiers will run from April 8 to June 16, offering $1 million in prize money each week. The top 100 solo players and top 50 duos pairs will be invited to the finals in New York City, which run July 26-28. Those players will be guaranteed $50,000, and while Epic doesn’t break down how the rest of the prizes will distribute, the top solo player will earn $3 million.

A $3 million solo prize would be the biggest such award in esports history, as noted by Rod Breslau on Twitter. Events like The International have paid out more to top teams – last year’s event saw an $11 million grand prize awarded to OG – but those payouts are split between teams and management.

Whoever wins the big Fortnite prize will suddenly be the tenth highest-paid esports player ever, according to the charts on Esports Earnings.

There’ll be more $1 million prizes awarded weekly through the end of the year. Epic says it plans to pay out a full $100 million for Fortnite competition in 2019. You can find more details on the official site.

That much money will certainly draw competition, but events like the Infinity Blade-plagued Winter Royale finals last year suggest that Fortnite esports have a way to go before feeling like genuine competition, and the scrutiny will be even greater with this much money on the line.